Maybe I'll Earn a Pizza - Self Publishing Diary

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Dlmusic

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Hello! Long time lurker coming out of the shadows to tell my story of self publishing. I am going to be launching my first novel, Elevated on 9/23. I'm half excited and half terrified. I've gotten some very strong reviews from my beta readers, so I'm fairly confident, but obviously there is anxiety as well. Just a quick overview of where I stand at the beginning of this:

1) Did the cover art myself. I have a background in graphic design which helped and I think it's quite strong

2) I don't have much of an author platform. While I have a pretty active social media life, it's not related directly to my creative works. I do think I can count on my contacts to give me a bit of a boost to start me off.

3) I felt my book fit into the superhero category which is not very deep at the moment. I set my book on preorder and will be informing said contacts above to help me start the first day with some sales (since all presales get lumped together).

4) I decided to go with Kindle select for now, since I doubt I will make such a big splash that putting it up on other sites is necessary. It enables me to use free days later. I'm going to see how it launches and how much I need to boost it.

5) I've gotten a few blogs to review the book, hopefully that will help as well.

And to explain my cryptic title, I always tell people that through my book sales I'll either be able to afford a pizza or a car. At this point, I'm hoping for a fancy pizza (buffalo chicken maybe?).
 

LadyDae

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We're both in the same boat right now, just kind of waiting around for review and the launch date of our novels.

While I understand you're trying not to get your hopes up (me too), I hope you're able to get your car! Although, pizza is great too... Good luck with your launch and self-publishing journey.

ETA: Your book sounds interesting based on the blurb. I like the premise.
 
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Feldkamp

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Woohoo, congratulations on starting your journey! Go get that pizza. :D

I look forward to following your journey. Do you by chance have a link to your preorder page? Interested in taking a look.
 

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Congratulations! I hope you have a lot of success with your first book. It's a roller coaster - but a fun one!
 

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Congrats on the start of your journey! Hope you have an amazing release day!
 

Dlmusic

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Here is the link to the book:
Elevated

And now off to update my author page.

BTW, the book is only .99 cents for the moment. I am going to be raising it to $2.99 come September.
 
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shelleyo

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I really like that cover. The story sounds like it has a lot of potential, too.

How far are you into your second novel?
 

Dlmusic

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I'm in the middle of outlining right now. My goal is to have the sequel out about 3 months for now, or about 2 months after the first book. Might be ambitious, but I tend to write quickly.
 

shelleyo

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I'm in the middle of outlining right now. My goal is to have the sequel out about 3 months for now, or about 2 months after the first book. Might be ambitious, but I tend to write quickly.

GOOD. Be ambitious. Write quickly. That can only help you!
 

Dlmusic

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Yeah, I know having a backlog of titles is key. I have 3 other work-in-progress titles at the moment and some more going around in my head. so I'm not worried about having the ideas.

At this point my biggest concern is that I won't have ANY response.

I'm planning on putting a mailing list blurb at the back of my book with the promise of giving those who join the first chapter of the 2nd book for free in advance. Having a group of people excited to see what happens next will make it more rewarding (even if it's only 20 or so) while I try to build up some steam.

At any rate, I know I'm in for a long haul so the only thing that would freeze me would be a ton of negative reviews.
 

shelleyo

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Yeah, I know having a backlog of titles is key. I have 3 other work-in-progress titles at the moment and some more going around in my head. so I'm not worried about having the ideas.

At this point my biggest concern is that I won't have ANY response.

It's a good-looking book, and the blurb is interesting. I don't think that's likely. But it's good to keep your expectations low, because you never know. Don't get discouraged if you don't get many or any pre-orders. I don't think it's a good strategy for most people. You're a new name, and there's no sample available on pre-orders. I won't buy a book, unless it's by a favorite author, without reading the sample, and I know I'm not the only person like this. So if you don't sell in the pre-order stage, don't despair.

I'm planning on putting a mailing list blurb at the back of my book with the promise of giving those who join the first chapter of the 2nd book for free in advance. Having a group of people excited to see what happens next will make it more rewarding (even if it's only 20 or so) while I try to build up some steam.

Get a link in front, too, so that people who download the sample will see it again when they go to read it later. Some people might sign up because they really like what prompted them to download before they have a chance to read the sample (or if they purchased, the whole book). Also, by the time they get through the book, they've seen it at least twice.

Best of luck with this!
 

Dlmusic

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Don't worry I'm not expecting many preorders. I just wanted it to be out there to see if I could get anything before the launch. So far I've gotten 2 sales and I haven't even told my social media followers it's up yet, so that's very encouraging.

I've heard conflicting things on how presales are treated by Amazon. Some seem to think they get lumped together and the sale registers on opening day in terms of rank, but then others say it affects the rank in advance. Anyone know for sure? I would rather not have my book start ranking at all until it's fully up with a "look inside" and everything. So if that's the case I won't drop a call to action with my followers until release day.
 

shelleyo

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Don't worry I'm not expecting many preorders. I just wanted it to be out there to see if I could get anything before the launch. So far I've gotten 2 sales and I haven't even told my social media followers it's up yet, so that's very encouraging.

I've heard conflicting things on how presales are treated by Amazon. Some seem to think they get lumped together and the sale registers on opening day in terms of rank, but then others say it affects the rank in advance. Anyone know for sure? I would rather not have my book start ranking at all until it's fully up with a "look inside" and everything. So if that's the case I won't drop a call to action with my followers until release day.

It affects the rank in advance, when the pre-order sales hit, not on the day it goes live for sale. You can see that by looking at your book, which now has a rank because of the sales you've made.

iTunes, however, lets pre-orders affect your rank at the time of the pre-order sale, but also lets all pre-orders affect the rank when the book goes live. So getting pre-orders on iTunes is really well worth it.
 

Dlmusic

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I am loving all the positive responses to my cover. My wife has told me I should start a side business as a cover artist. :)

Considering the rank is taken into account now and not accumulative, I haven't given my followers a call to action yet. I'm probably going to to time it to the day before so that way the day it comes out it will have a bit of a boost. I am also going to raise the price to $2.99 the day it comes out.
 

Filigree

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With the great cover and subject, you might do well if you can somehow link it in Goodreads tags to 'Divergent' and 'Hunger Games'. Also consider putting a teaser chapter up on Wattpad close to launch day* - their readership might eat this up.Good luck, and many sales!

*Two teasers. One now, announcing the special price. The second near launch.

I went ahead and added the book to www.salesrankexpress.com so you can sort of track numbers from here on. The site isn't always accurate, and only tracks Amazon sales, but it can hint at sales trends.
 
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Dlmusic

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How does one tag a book on Goodreads?

Here is the link to the Goodreads page for it.
 

Polenth

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How does one tag a book on Goodreads?

Here is the link to the Goodreads page for it.

Goodreads has shelves, which is what people mean by tags. You add it to your library. At that point, you can add shelves for the book. Give it ones that make sense, like genre and themes. Though you think of the book as a superhero novel, it also sounds dystopian. Check out other dystopian books to see exactly what shelves they're on, as you might see some others that are relevant.

I'd note with that, do be honest about the adding. I add books to a my-books shelf and I don't give them a star rating, so it's clear I'm the author and I'm not trying to cheat the ratings.
 

lauralam

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You can also add your book to Goodreads lists, which can help visibility too. Wattpad is also good, as an earlier post said, especially for teen books.
 

Dlmusic

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So I'm at 3 presales right now. Still not sure where these are coming from. Until I fixed it a few minutes ago my Goodreads page didn't link correctly to the book on Amazon. I'm guessing some friends of mine did some digging on Amazon to find it, because I can't imagine anyone could stumble upon the book right now.
 

lauralam

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Once it's released, you can do a goodreads giveaway of a physical copy, too. I had about 2500 entries on my first book, and loads of people added it on their "to be read" shelves, so it's good visibility without having to pay for an ad.
 

Dlmusic

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Got my first review from an advance review copy I sent someone on Goodreads. It's 4 stars, which I'm very happy with. Hoping there are more positive reviews to come.
 
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